Sept. 11, 2010

Cornell|Bowling Green

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - Sophomore Brittany Holbrook had 18 kills and hit .406, junior Allison Bell had 15 kills and hit .333 and senior Brittany Dunn had 27 digs as the Oakland University volleyball team (5-6) won twice to finish second at the Best Western Falcon Plaza Invitational Saturday.

The Golden Grizzlies beat Cornell (1-5) 3-0 (25-17, 25-20, 25-16) and Bowling Green (2-7) 3-0 (25-22, 25-11, 25-19).

"I feel that in just two days of practice, we made tremendous strides in several area," said head coach Rob Beam. "Our blocking in all three matches this weekend was outstanding. Our middle's have done a good job of closing better and being better with their hands. Allison Bell was really physical on the right side and our left sides did a better job of making adjustments. A tremendous amount of energy, effort and togetherness made a huge difference."

In the opening set against Cornell, the two teams battled back and forth with Oakland taking an early 10-9 lead. The Golden Grizzlies went on a 9-3 run to go up 19-12. The Big Red battled back to 20-15 before OU finished on a 5-2 spurt to take the set.

In the second set, Oakland appeared ready to shut the door with a 19-13 lead. Cornell refused to quit and answered with a 7-3 run to make it 23-20. Holbrook crushed the ball down the middle followed by a block from Bell and junior Jenna Lange to close it out.

In the third set, Cornell just would not go away, as they took the lead several times. Up 17-15, the Golden Grizzlies stepped it up and went on an 8-1 run to take the match.

"I think Cornell is very talented," said Beam. "They play a lot of people. Kelly Hansen is one of the best players in the tournament. They gave us a good fight and we had to play a good pass outside game to beat them."

For Oakland, Bell had 10 kills and hit .500 while freshman Audrey Wilson added eight kills. Dunn led the team with 16 digs while junior Ashleigh Slemmer had 11 and sophomore Alli Kirk had 10.

Bowling Green scored the first four points to open the first set. Oakland came back with an 8-6 run to close the gap to 10-8. Falling behind, 13-8, OU called timeout and then came out with six straight points to make it 14-13. Tied at 19-19, Oakland scored three straight points to lead 22-19. BGSU closed to 24-22 before Slemmer found the corner for a set ending kill.

Oakland started the second set with a 6-1 run, causing the Falcons to call a timeout. Once back on the court, the Golden Grizzlies continue their assault with an 11-5 run forcing another timeout from BGSU. Following that timeout, OU went on an 8-5 run, closing the set on a dink by junior Katie Horling.

The Golden Grizzlies stormed out to a 10-4 lead in the third set, which once again saw a timeout called from the BGSU bench. Once back on the floor, Oakland kept up the pressure matching point for point. Bell tagged the backline to end the match.

"This was a great match for us," said Beam. "This was an emotional match for Brittany Dunn playing in her hometown and against her sister Ashley. Brittany and her family mean so much to our program and the girls really wanted to win this one for her. We played with a lot of heart and emotion and it would have been really hard to beat us. We came out and executed very well."

For Oakland, Holbrook had 11 kills and hit .529 while Lange tallied nine kills for a .421 hitting percentage. Dunn picked up 11 digs, her 10th double-dig match of the season while junior Ashley Nevelle had 10 digs.

Holbrook and Dunn were named to the all-tournament team. Holbrook averaged 2.36 kills per set (26), had 17 total blocks and hit .340 while Dunn had 3.73 digs per set (41).

"It's great that the Brittany's made the all-tournament team," said Beam. "We talked about a few little things that we wanted Holbrook to change and she did that. She's just really becoming that M2 and hopefully she continue this progression. Dunner is our senior libero and leader. She provided so much for us throughout the tournament."

Oakland is back in action, Tuesday, Sept. 14 when they hit the road to take on Michigan State. The match is scheduled to start at 7 p.m.

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